In their most aggressive effort yet to turn the vice presidential nominee into a central character of the race for the House, Democrats are for the first time using Ryan’s image in TV ads as a means of tarnishing their GOP opponents.

The ads are aimed at sharpening their depiction of Republicans as steadfast supporters of Ryan’s controversial budget plan and Medicare overhaul. Party strategists say the commercials go further than many of the previous ads they ran, which merely mentioned the budget but did not include the Wisconsin congressman’s picture.

The latest offensive will come Friday, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee releases a commercial casting New York Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle as a Ryan pawn.

“Only in Washington would this happen. Ann Marie Buerkle voted to increase taxes on middle-class families by $1,400. And where does the money go? To give millionaires a $265,000 tax cut,” the ad says as a picture of Ryan flashes on screen. “It’s Paul Ryan’s plan — and Anne Marie Buerkle voted for it.”

The ad was the House Democratic campaign arm’s second to feature Ryan – late last week it came out with another which showed a stick-figure-like New York Rep. Chris Gibson standing alongside Ryan.

“Chris Gibson voted for Paul Ryan’s budget that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry,” it says.

And on Thursday House Majority PAC, a group that supports congressional Democrats, released its first TV ad that features Ryan.

“Rick Snuffer? He’s taken over $100,000 from his friends in Congress who support slashing Medicare by turning it into a voucher program,” says the spot, which shows Ryan’s face next to Snuffer, a Republican candidate in West Virginia.

The ads are designed to capitalize on Ryan’s newfound prominence in the 2012 campaign. With the public growing increasingly aware of Ryan and his plan after his time on the campaign trail, Democrats strategists tasked with finding a path back to the House majority say they are seizing an opportunity to attach Republican candidates to a budget plan that many voters don’t like.

“Ryan being appointed as the vice presidential nominee was really a key development for us because it brought a national spotlight on the Ryan budget, it branded it,” said Robby Mook, executive director of the DCCC. “While his name recognition isn’t 100 percent today, there’s much more consciousness of him and that he had a budget that cut Medicare.”

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think we had real, hard, scientific evidence that this was making a real difference,” he added.